Spending time in nature allows for a deep connection to the natural world and exposure to a learning environment full of imagination, challenge, inspiration, awe and wonder. Why and how to use forests instead of classrooms for learning environments.
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Why not hold the occasional micro-granting event to help highlight and fund local projects in your community? A collaboration, a meal together, a platform for connection, a safe space, community helping fund its own people and a forum.
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In the summer of 2017, some roofing contractors in north London spotted a homeless man sleeping on a bench close to their latest job. The man asked if they might need some help with their roofing job one morning..
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Helping us figure out how to adapt best practises of innovation to the realm of social good. A lot of challenges have answers that are not clear and need different approaches that emphasise the speed of learning - what innovation is all about.
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Helping us figure out how to adapt best practises of innovation to the realm of social good. A lot of challenges have answers that are not clear and need different approaches that emphasise the speed of learning - what innovation is all about.
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Everything Conference report - example after example of Christians who are very clearly renewing the cultures they find themselves in, and doing so in effective, winsome and undeniably Christ like ways.
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A new digital-only bank aims to address financial risk by incenting five controllable behaviours - not spending more than we earn, not saving regularly, not having insurance in place, not paying off property and not investing for the long term.
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Placing young people who are in care into academies on university campuses to support, inspire and belong. The results are startling – over 90% who attend in the USA go on to study at university versus national average of 3%.
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How one church found abundance in a community of material poverty. Viewing people - not programmes, finances, etc - as their most valuable resource moved church members beyond their own walls and out into the streets, where they discovered..
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Executive Toolbox run by LICC is a programme for Christian workplace leaders, which is uniquely structured to help you have a significant impact on the way you work, the people you work with and the organisations you work in.
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Products that could be used in small sites locally for rapid housing development. Quality housing, manufactured offsite to minimise on site disruption, whilst keeping the price well below the market average.
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Can the activities of businesses be affected by spiritual factors just as individuals are? Are there spiritual issues in your company that should be addressed and change brought to those areas?
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To become a confident, competent adult, should children go outside more, make their own mistakes and figure things out? Putting children in control helps them learn to solve problems, and cope better in new environments.
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"We've got employees that have a label of 'ex-offender' but here they're producing product rated in the top 1% of coffees. We're doing that so that the quality of their work will change the perception of the public."
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Early nurturing, learning experiences and physical health from ages 0-5 greatly impact success or failure in society. The best time to develop skills, social abilities is in the very early years when developmental support is most effective.
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The Social Bite Village will create an innovative, low cost, safe living environment for up to 20 people for around 12 -18 months. During this time the residents will receive extensive support.
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Of Jesus’ 132 public appearances, 122 were in the marketplace. Of 52 parables Jesus told, 45 had a workplace context. Jesus spent his adult life as a carpenter until age 30 before he went into a preaching ministry in the workplace.
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SU suggests the Church only reaches 5% of young people in UK. Why not try detached youthwork? Here's 10 aspects of detached youthwork that could be viewed either as threats to or opportunities for the Church.
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Luminary is a social enterprise designed to offer opportunities for women to build a future for themselves. They use baking as a tool to take women on a journey to employability and entrepreneurship, equipping them with transferrable skills.
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With MicroSociety, school is society, a thriving, modern-day, mini-metropolis—complete with a government centre, entrepreneurial hub, non-profit organizations, consumer marketplace and community gathering spaces.
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Over the past 18 months, some charities in Scotland working in partnership with churches have been running a remarkable campaign to help make Scotland the first Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Aware nation in the world.
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Illuminate is a mission to young people in the UK and beyond. They do this nationwide, through music, mainstream presence, schools tours, using music to connect with young people and effective follow up.
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In the past, some monasteries, communities of Christians, have focused on interacting with local communities to provide services, supporting themselves through work. What would that look like today? An example.
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For some people, just keeping up with basic household costs can be a real struggle. In 2017, 140,000 people who received debt advice from StepChange were behind on at least one of their essential household bills.
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Nobody really knows how many adults were abused as children, either sexually, physically or emotionally. The devastating long-term impact of child abuse is only beginning to be widely understood.
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The Refugee Resource Centre for Churches (R2C2) was set up at the request of many Christian groups working with refugees in Britain, bringing together the expertise and experience of those involved in this vital work.
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We tend to share about positive responses to outreach but we don't hear about the disappointments. What happened when a Mission Community in Sheffield got out onto the streets to share the love of Jesus.
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In the West, the church is less and less effective at reaching a changing world but many in the church continue to believe the church maintains a central role in the life of culture. Time to ReThink.
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The Government of Ontario recently requested ideas from the public to help problems in one of 5 focus areas. These ideas were shortlisted and voted on by the public. The Government will now spend CAN$5M on 5 of them.
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Are You a Good Neighbour? is an online course designed to help you apply the principles of helping without hurting in everyday life—and take the first steps toward building personal relationships with people in poverty.
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Those who marry are more satisfied than those who remain single. The benefits of marriage persist in the long-term. Marriage seems to be most important in middle age. Those who are best friends with their partners have the largest well-being benefits.
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How do you reach migrant families that stretched social services do not have time to relate to? Berlin trains unemployed mothers that are long-established in Germany but are themselves from immigrant backgrounds.
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A pathway out of homelessness which engages the community, links with specialist support services, develops life skills and gets people into employment whilst generating income from social enterprise.
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Since the early 1990s, inequality, as shown by the Gini coefficient, has stayed relatively level. In other words, although there is inequality there has not been a large increase in recent years.
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Early childhood settings provide an opportunity for educators to effectively prevent and stop the emergence of bullying behaviour and to foster the development of positive social interactions.
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We know how to make our faith deeply personal. But we struggle to make it massively public. At times, we feel like we don’t really belong or fit in with our surroundings. How do we navigate this difficult tension?
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An incredible year for global health. Stunning victories for global conservation. Rising living standards for billions of people. An amazing year for clean energy. Breakthroughs in justice. The world got less violent. Hope for a living planet.
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Livability has launched a new, free church Bible study resource regarding mental health. ‘Lifting the Lid’ helps churches engage with the mental health challenges faced by those in their communities.
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On the rooftops of the tall buildings in Johannesburg, a green revolution is happening - an initiative to create urban gardening businesses on vacant roofs aimed at creating jobs for the unemployed whilst at the same time providing food.
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There was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’
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In 2011, Barrio Las Flores in Rosario, Argentina, was overrun by battling drug cartels. Then Gregorio Avalos, a Christian, ran for president of the neighbourhood association and won by four votes.
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I now want to gather people. Gatherings where they can actually use their gifts. Starting with just leading a small group, maybe I can just start multiplying that, teaching other people to lead and shepherd these groups.
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Workshops birthed out of 30 years of research in the field of relationship health given to over 300,000 people. Results; lower divorce rates, better communication skills, reduction in violence.
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When a film wins 30 worldwide Film Festival honours and 11+ awards and it's about poverty, we should sit up and take notice. Such a film is Poverty Inc., drawn from over 200 interviews filmed in 20 countries.
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Emi Watson is a mum of two and a Digital Advertising Sales Manager. In this extract from her blog on the Mental Health Foundation website, she reflects on the changes she has experienced since becoming a mum.
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While parents have a general understanding that what happens in a child’s early years can last a lifetime, many don’t realize at what age babies and toddlers can begin to feel complex emotions.
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The Mental Health Foundation have published a comprehensive summary of mental health research in November 2016. It provides a unique handbook of key facts and figures, covering all key areas of mental health.
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I've been looking at the tens of thousands of visits to the Word on the Streets website since starting in April 2016 and the number of visits to each blog. Which ones were of most interest across the site?
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Memory Café is run by St Cuthbert's Church, Wembley and helps the elderly and lonely who live locally. By doing this, the church has been able to create a real presence in the community and has grown.
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Hans Hauge was born in 1771 in southeastern Norway into a farming family. Despite only having a primary school education, he read the Bible and devotional books daily. In April 1796, he was ploughing a field when..
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Building resilience — the ability to adapt well to adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of stress — can help our children manage stress and feelings of anxiety and uncertainty.
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Recognising and commissioning people for the work they do during the week is a powerful message that their work matters not just to them but to fellow Christians and, above all, to God himself.
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Volunteers share extra portions of home-cooked food with people in their area who aren’t always able to cook for themselves. They share once a week, once a month, or whenever works best for them.
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Nearly half of children arrive at school ‘not ready to learn’. EasyPeasy is an app for parents to use that supports learning through play at home and shows significant improvement in school readiness skills.
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In the last year alone, 10% of all state-educated 11 – 16 year olds in England and Wales, about 280,000 students, were tutored. One quarter said they had received private tuition at some point in their schooling.
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Results of research of the costs of ‘late intervention’: the acute, statutory and essential benefits and services that are required when children and young people experience significant but preventable difficulties in life.
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Earlier this year, Working Families published their 3rd Modern Families Index - a snapshot of family life in the UK today. In particular, it focuses on how families combine work and family life.
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Gabor Maté has worked worked in a palliative care and in an area challenged by hard core addiction, mental illness, HIV and related conditions. He talks about the importance of early years' development.
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Successful parents tend to do 5 very simple things with their children when they were emotional. Children who had “Emotion Coaches” for parents were on a more positive developmental trajectory.
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The Eating Place in Coventry doesn’t have prices on its menu. Coventry City Mission began the scheme in their café as a pilot project about a year ago to help people suffering from loneliness or poverty.
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As winter draws near, many churches will be participating in running night shelters for those on the streets. Here's the story of a Night Shelter provided each night by one of 6 churches in Manchester.
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Sunday 6th November 2016 is Adoption Sunday. It is an opportunity each year for the Church to share the good news of our adoption into God’s family and to respond to the needs of young people in the UK care system.
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In recent years, this city has been transformed, as the leaders have declared Paranaque a city dedicated to God. A major breakthrough occurred when permission was given to Christians to hold daily prayer meetings right in the heart of the City Hall.
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The Diocese of Bristol provides ministry that serves and reaches out to some of the most deprived areas of the country in both Bristol and Swindon. Here are some insights about church on the Penhill and Pinehurst estates in Swindon.
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Prison Reform Trust produced a fact file about prisons in England+Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in autumn 2015. It contains a huge number of insights and would inform prayer and other initiatives.
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A few weeks back, I wrote about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the effect they have on adult health including mental illness, doing time in prison, and work issues, such as absenteeism.
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Recently there has been a Kickstarter campaign for designing 'The Purpose Hotel'. It was oversubscribed. The concept is based on guests, who use the hotel, 'changing the world while you sleep'.
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The Scottish government recently announced 21 project awards totalling £900,000 from their Fair Food Transformation Fund. This fund supports initiatives across the country that are seeking to reduce reliance on emergency food aid.
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Churches in the Diocese of London are creating This Time Tomorrow slots in their services to encourage congregations to pray for their church family not just on a Sunday, but on Monday, Tuesday and every other day of the week.
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A fixed mindset believes intelligence is static which leads to children not achieving their potential. A growth mindset on the other hand believes that intelligence can be developed and leads to higher levels of achievement.
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In Silicon Valley, California, there is a very high achieving set of schools – Valley Christian Schools. They have linked with a primary school in a local area where there are lots of social issues. The results in this primary school have risen
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This month will be the first anniversary of Albuquerque’s There’s a Better Way program, which hires street people for day jobs tidying up the city in partnership with a local charity, St Martin's, that serves the homeless population.
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It is said that it takes a village to raise a child, but where is that village today? Bill Milliken, now 75, reflects on lessons he has learnt from helping troubled students in the USA stay in school, graduate, and succeed in life.
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Time and again, we have seen the impact video can have, not just for large brands, but for charities too, no matter the size. When produced well, video has the power to emotionally move people
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The importance of supporting people’s mental health at work has slowly but surely gained recognition in the UK over the past few years, and with very good reason. Here are the key findings of a survey of 2000 employees by CIPD.
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Free downloadable resources for you to give away in your community to parents of 1-5's and advertise your parent and toddler group based on resources of SKIP, a community campaign in New Zealand.
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The Community Church Honiton have a team of over 60 volunteers working in a wide variety of social action initiatives. One of these ‘Walk the Talk’ is supporting those in drug / alcohol addiction.
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Free downloadable resources for you to give away in your community to expectant or new parents and advertise your parent group, based on resources of SKIP, a community campaign in New Zealand.
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In July 2016, CUF published a briefing paper 'Connecting Communities: The impact of loneliness and the opportunities for churches to respond'. The information is helpful for creating effective actions.
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There is a profound shift taking place in the UK as churches begin to engage with the real needs of the community around them. This is manifesting itself in the design of church buildings to properly resource the work and reimagine church.
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Briefing produced by the Joint Public Issues Team: Baptist, Church of Scotland, Methodist and United Reformed Churches working together: "A Christian response to the unfolding refugee crisis must begin with
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Theos recently published a report on Religion and Well-being:Assessing the evidence. They looked at nearly 140 studies on the relationship between religion and well-being and uniquely tried to reach
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A study in 2013 found that attending cultural or sports events was the largest predictor of civic engagement. Young people who said they went "often" to theatre, ballet, classical concerts, museums, galleries or sports events
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A helpful 3 min video from RightNow Ministries exploring how working in the marketplace with our God-given skills can be an act of worship. Many people spend a great deal of time at work and yet they don’t see how their work intersects with their faith.
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A resource to help you be a church for the poor? Middle class understandings of those who work with people in poverty are often ill-suited for connecting with and helping people build up resources and rise out of poverty.
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"We felt convicted that relational poverty, like material poverty, is a form of injustice. Without reconciliation this wonderful neighbourhood could never reach its potential and Jesus’ prayer for it to “be on earth as it is heaven”
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An example of a church which started a youth venture among vulnerable young refugees and asylum seekers. "Once the basic needs are provided for [by the authorities], their other needs take a back seat.
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People with mental health problems are far more likely to face financial difficulty than others. The Money and Mental Health charity have launched a consultation on policies to protect such consumers.
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On the 30th July 2016, Martin Charlesworth of Jubilee+ and co-author of The Myth of The Undeserving Poor presented the findings and biblical reflections from the book at an event organised by CapitalMass in London.
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A multi-year survey of 17000 patients looked at their health and also asked what childhood traumas they had experienced. When the doctor conducting the research first saw the results, he was stunned. “I wept,” he says.
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You may have seen or experienced anger, mockery, opposition by those who disagree with you or perceive you as a threat. You will have seen such behaviour in society concerning local and national issues, using all sorts of media. How can Christians
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A challenging story from the USA about Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments who earned $1.1M pa and decided to reduce it so that all workers in the company could earn a minimum salary of $70,000pa
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Church Action on Poverty published a report in June 2016 with contributions from thinkers and leaders of many denominations on Pope Francis' call “I want a Church that is poor and for the poor”.
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A 3 minute video from Catalyst. Three Christians in the workplace tell of their ministry in the marketplace. Daniel, an entrepreneur from the world of fashion, Dawn, a nurse and Danny, a children's worker.
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"What is it about... spending so many hours of my life here? If it's only about trying to find the very rare occasion to talk about faith, well, something is wasted. What I had to learn is God's calling for me here.
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There are some financial products that could be useful for those struggling with budgeting and managing their finances. If you are involved in debt advice or helping vulnerable people you may want to investigate further.
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In Mexico, in Cuidad Juarez, after the city was touched, they still had a problem with schools. One-thousand schools. The pastor Poncho Morguia went to the school superintendent. He asked this lady, "Would you give me ten schools,
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Clarks Shoes started in 1825 as a business making sheepskin rugs and slippers. Their sheepskin slipper, named the ‘Brown Petersburg’, was a huge success. Within years of its unveiling, its unique design graced feet the length and breadth of the country
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Ed Silvoso recently told the story of Poncho Murguia, a pastor in Cuidad Juarez, a city on the Mexican-USA border, who, obeying God, stepped out of his church role and set out to transform his city - the murder capital of the world.
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John Wesley had a fierce heart for people in poverty and said some things which are deeply challenging to us, to our politics and our Church today. He said that “one great reason why the rich have so little sympathy for the poor is
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In 1986, in a few of the poorest neighborhoods in Kingston, Jamaica, researchers held an experiment that has done a great deal to change our thinking about how to help children succeed. Its message: Help children by supporting and coaching their parents.
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"The primary action of the church in the world is the action of its members in their daily work." Leslie Newbigin. How can a church equip its congregation for the majority of the time they spend interacting with the majority of the unchurched world?
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An independent review, established by Prison Reform Trust. Around half of the 1,000 children currently in custody in England and Wales have experience of the care system. This is despite fewer than 1% of all children in England
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If you are a business person and want to run your own business, why not consider an impact franchise? Impact franchises are commercial franchises that have social impact beyond that of job creation.
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A church for the poor. Not just a food bank for the poor, debt advice for the poor, campaigning for the poor, an ESOL class, a financial literacy session, a cooking group, a gardening club for the poor… A church for the poor
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About 3.8m older people live alone. Over one in ten older people are in contact with family friends or neighbours less than once a month. Two-fifths of older people say that their main company is the TV. What can a church do?
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The quality of the inter-parental relationship, specifically how parents communicate and relate to each other, is increasingly recognised as a primary influence on effective parenting practices and
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A generosity kit could be as big as a suitcase or as small as your back pocket. The idea is just that you face the day prepared – with a kit of items that could range from a safety pin to a shovel, ready to give out generously to those in need.
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New research by the Resolution Foundation goes beyond the question of house prices and looks at the proportion of household income spent on housing – including rent, mortgage repayments and service
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Today over 45 million people are trapped in modern slavery around the world. We have the power to change this and make slavery history. From 1st April 2016, companies must disclose what steps they are taking to deal with slavery in their supply chains.
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Taking part in after-school clubs can give primary school children from poorer families a boost in academic performance and provide them with important social skills. According to a new working paper
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The story of John Laing of Laing Construction. From the early days, John Laing was concerned for the well-being of his employees. Although he expected much from his staff, he also worked consistently to see an improvement in their conditions.
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The Church Urban Fund has published some great resources on 'Working Well With Volunteers' to help guide churches and church-based organisations. "Churches vary enormously in resources - human and otherwise - but they all rely on volunteers.
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Inspired by Pope Francis’ vision of “a poor church, for the poor”, Church Action on Poverty is exploring how churches can do more to stand in solidarity with people in poverty. Reflections of many prominent Christians will shortly be published
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When the Life Chances initiative was launched in January 2016 to help the poorest children in the country, one of the 4 areas of focus was education. Many churches are already involved in giving assemblies, etc., but what might be extensions
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Nearly 550,000 people contacted the StepChange Debt Charity for help in 2015. Their Statistic Yearbook 2015 gives some real insights, through simple infographics, into the personal debt of clients in this year.
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The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Task Group and pfeg, the Personal Finance Education Group are rolling out LifeSavers, a national financial education programme for primary schools. Could you register a primary school you are involved with?
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By 1900 the Rowntree company had become one of Britain's most famous firms, both for its commercial success and in the field of industrial welfare. Rowntree was an influential social reformer as well as a businessman. He realised that old-fashioned
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First of a series of 4 short films from To Your Credit, Justin Welby and leading theologians reflect on the theology of money and debt. A guide for small group discussion accompanies each film, including key bible
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Churches Together Merseyside region. A very comprehensive briefing paper and guide triggered by the international refugee crisis and inspired by the need to respond to the Gospel, to the injunction to ‘welcome the stranger’ and
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TLG have just launched a video-based course called School Kit. School can often present challenges to children and to parents. School Kit brings together the experiences of lots of parents and unpacks
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Life changing buildings are those which are instruments, vehicles, tools for community transformation. Well-­conceived buildings begin with a comprehensive understanding of the function they serve. Architects may design incredible spaces, eye-­catching
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As Christians volunteer to open up their homes to refugees and asylum seekers, here are some thoughts regarding arrangements churches may want to put in place to set expectations and protect both the hosts and the guests.
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It is impossible to work for social justice in cities today without addressing the issue of housing. What will happen if the poorest residents of our cities are priced out of their neighbourhoods by soaring housing costs?
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In my last blog about this subject, we looked at resources that could be helpful in developing good parenting for early years. In this one, let's look at resources that churches can use to help relationships.
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The Centre for Theology and Community has just published research on five church plants undertaken in east London through the Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) Network.The churches were planted over a ten year period
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Sir Titus Salt was a successful 19th Century businessman who helped improve conditions for his workers, building a model factory and village. Influenced by his Congregationalist faith he brought a social conscience to capitalism at a time when many
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"Families are the best anti-poverty measure ever invented. They are a welfare, education and counselling system all wrapped up into one. Children in families that break apart are more than twice as likely to
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Getting around London is expensive for everyone, let alone for a refugee living on the weekly government asylum allowance of £36.95. Whilst seeking asylum, it is vital that people are able to access
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In February 2016, the Centre for Social Justice published a significant piece of research ‘Home Improvements’ containing a series of recommendations to help the Government develop a coherent housing strategy for low-income households.
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Fraser Nelson recently published a fascinating article about key factors of people who prosper. Those who observe them are highly unlikely to end up in poverty. Those who break them are unlikely to avoid it.
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We are seeing a refugee crisis across Europe. So far a relatively small number have arrived in the UK, but over the coming months the number is likely to increase dramatically. In December 2015, Jubilee+ launched a short survey to understand what actions
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In February 2016, the Relationships Foundation updated their annual “Cost of Family Failure Index”. It reveals that the 2016 cost of family breakdown to the taxpayer has increased for the seventh year in a row
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